Every morning when Santonio Holmes wakes up, he feels the pain in his left foot – a reminder of the work that remains before he can play football again. No matter what Holmes has done to rehabilitate the Lisfranc (mid-foot) fracture he suffered Sept. 30 against San Francisco, he has yet to experience a pain-free morning since.

“It still feels the same,” he said. “I think it’s something that I have to learn to tolerate at this point, because the injury itself is going to be a tough one to overcome. And mentally, it’s definitely a big challenge.”

Not until Holmes walks in the morning does the pain dissipate. He still does not know when he will step on the field again for practice or a game. He just knows he cannot expect the aching in his foot to completely disappear at any point soon, as he prepares to “relearn” all the physical movements required of an elite wide receiver.

Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes was in Florham Park again on Wednesday working through his rehab for a surgically-repaired foot.Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger

Holmes is the Jets’ best receiver, a valuable asset to an offense that desperately needs them. He said he feels excited that football season is approaching. But uncertainty abounds about when – or if – he will participate, for what very well could be his final season with the Jets, in the third year of a five-year, $45 million contract.

Holmes, who is dealing with a serious injury for the first time in his eight-year NFL career, expressed tempered optimism Wednesday about his chances of playing in 2013.

He said it’s “not really” looking more and more unlikely that he will be ready for the Sept. 8 opener against Tampa Bay and former Jets star cornerback Darrelle Revis.
But Holmes said during training camp in Cortland, N.Y., that he couldn’t say whether he’d even be able to play at all this season. And he said Wednesday that still holds true.

“Up until this point, I don’t know,” he said. “At any point, I could be ready to play. And if not, I’ll be willing to accept it.”

Before last Saturday’s game against Jacksonville, Holmes sprinted on the field at MetLife Stadium and caught a couple passes from quarterback Geno Smith. But Holmes has yet to attempt the hard cutting and route running required of an NFL receiver.

“What you saw on Saturday at the game wasn’t anything in particular extra,” he said. “It was just giving it a try and seeing what I can do. Up until this point, I still haven’t done anything else (with route running).”

When asked whether he was running at 100 percent of his speed Saturday, he said, “There’s no percentage right now. I’m not able to be at Santonio Holmes’ level of competition, so right now, it’s just going with what I can give.”

For Holmes, that means riding an exercise bike during practice, running on an anti-gravity treadmill that takes stress off his foot and catching balls from a Jugs machine.

“Football season is here, and hopefully I’ll be ready to roll soon,” he said.

He said that even though he hasn’t done cutting or route running, that doesn’t mean he is physical unable to do those things.

“Not that I can’t do anything,” he said. “That’s just that I haven’t done anything yet.”

Route running would presumably be the next step in his rehab process. But he said the Jets’ training staff hasn’t told him when he is scheduled to try that.

“We’re still playing it day by day and just going with the flow at this point,” he said. “The next step is trying to get on the football field, so whatever it takes to get on the field is what I have to be ready for.”

How did he feel when he ran before the Jacksonville game?

“I mean, all I did was run straight ahead and did sprints, so that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing up until this point,” he said. “The past couple weeks is just sprinting straight ahead.

“I probably ran two routes, which were the two passes that I caught from Geno on the deep side, but everything else was walk, catch the ball on the sideline. It wasn’t really full go. It wasn’t planting and cutting the way I would like to. At this point, it’s only making strides forward.

“I can’t pinpoint a day when it will feel better because every day has been the same up until this point. I feel good some days, don’t the others. This pain won’t go away. It’s something that I probably can’t predict, because I have to get up and I have to run, have to cut, have to plant, put pressure on it, and apply as much pressure as I can to run routes and to feel comfortable.”

Holmes said he remained unsure if cutting on his foot causes him pain, because he hasn’t tried it yet. He also isn’t sure how much practice time he would need to get back into shape before playing in a game.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think the conditioning that I’ve been doing so far has definitely prepared me, as far as riding the bike and running on the (anti-gravity treadmill).”

He just knows he does not have a time table for his return to practice or the game field.

“I never had one from the start,” he said. “Coming off of injury for the first time, just letting the foot heal up and see where we can go from there.”

He said “comfort” will determine when he is able to cut and run routes. In order to feel comfortable, he began the process Tuesday of finding ideal footwear.

Holmes has also been using a hyperbaric chamber to help his healing.

“I’ve been using it since Year 3 in the NFL,” he said. “It’s definitely helping keep the heart rate up. The oxygen that pushes into the body is definitely helping healing all over the body.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” Holmes said. “And I say that with a smile, because if I actually felt as good as I look, I would definitely be 100 percent ready.”

As he tries to get ready, how does the 29-year-old Holmes weigh his football future when evaluating how hard to push himself in his rehab?

“At this point, I don’t know because my main focus is to be as healthy as I can to perform at a good enough level that is successful for the team,” he said. “For myself, it’s treatments every day and not allowing myself to feel comfortable at any point with the success that I’ve made. Hopefully, this thing goes away at one point, but if it doesn’t, I have to continue doing this (rehab work) until it does.”

He said standing on the sideline all this time hasn’t been overly difficult because he’s stayed engaged by catching Jugs balls and watching the other receivers during practice.

“At this point, nothing is difficult because I continue to do the necessary things that I would do if I were playing,” he said. “Those things are definitely helping me keep my focus on getting back on the field, and when the day comes to be 100 percent ready.”